Free Republic

Fidel Castro says corrupt judges are to blame for Cuba's sub-par showing at the Beijing Olympics. Castro alleges that judges blatantly stole semifinal fights from two Cuban boxers, and that a judge must have been bribed in the case of Angel Matos, who kicked a referee in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal taekwondo match.

HAVANA (Reuters) - The era of Fidel Castro appeared to be ending July 30, 2006, when the ailing leader handed over power to his brother Raul Castro. But two years later, he remains a force to be reckoned with in Cuba and to some degree on the international scene. Although he no longer rules the Caribbean island as he did for almost 50 years, the 81-year-old still has his brother's ear and is using a newfound career as a newspaper columnist to make his views known. Diplomatic cocktail gossip in Havana centers on whether he is using his clout to...

Much of the Religious Left has abandoned its old infatuation with Marxism, having long since moved on to radical environmentalism or performing apologetics for radical Islam. But quaintly, some relics still hang on to the old causes, chief of which is the 50 year love affair with Fidel Castro and his Cuban despotism.

Cuba's Useful Idiot By Humberto Fontova FrontPageMagazine.com | 4/16/2008 Last month Dan Rather’s new gig as host of HDNET's “Dan Rather Reports” found him, as so often during his CBS days, “reporting” from Cuba. From Dan we heard of “dramatic changes” down there, of a “remarkable transformation.” “The door (to the U.S.) is open, “explained Dan. “The best time to talk is now.” Dan was chanting a familiar tune, one we've heard almost nonstop from the MSM's pet “Cuba Experts'” for the past 21 months. As usual when dealing with Cuban matters, a sober look behind the carefully constructed and...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that his close friend Fidel Castro predicted the fall of the U.S. dollar. Chavez said Cuba's 81-year-old former president mentioned the prediction some time ago before signs of a weakening dollar had begun to appear. "Fidel told me one day, 'Chavez, it won't be long before the crisis of the dollar occurs,'" the Venezuelan leader said in a televised speech. Chavez said Castro handed him a document he had written during one of their meetings in Havana that said "the United States has bought half the world with paper bills that...

HAVANA (AP) - Ailing former leader Fidel Castro made a rare mention of his government's crackdown on political opponents five years ago, defending the action and exhorting the United States to treat its prisoners with the same humanity he said Cuba uses with its inmates. "What an enormous difference between the methods of the United States and of Cuba!" Castro wrote in an essay published Monday in state media, apparently referring to how the U.S. government treats terror suspects. "None of the mercenaries were tortured or deprived of attorney or trial," Castro said of the 75 dissidents rounded up beginning...

Prominent Cuban author and dissident, Armando Valladares, has predicted the collapse of communism in Cuba after the death of former president Fidel Castro. Valladares said that people in Cuba were tired of 'acquiescing to state terrorism' like others had in communist Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Valladares said that the young "sons of the revolution, are becoming ever more politically active... The author who spent 22 years in prison was in Italy to present a new edition of his most popular work, Against All Hope: a Memoir of Life in Castro's Gulags, in the Italian capital in Rome. He also critised...

Back in late September 2006 in The Partial Assassination of Castro, I presented evidence that Castro had probably been poisoned with a tasteless odorless poison called superwarfarin, had hemorrhaged profusely for a prolonged period, and had been brain damaged in the process. He has been living in a medical version of prison, unable to talk to the outside world lest he embarrass himself, Cuba and the cause of Communism. Since then further evidence has supported that conclusion. Even if Fidel Castro was brain damaged, that did not stop his brother and associates from creating a facade that Fidel was still...

Andy Garcia is urging fashion-conscious rebels to stop wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Latino revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara because they remind Cubans of terrible times. The actor accepts that Guevara stands for rebellion and is seen as a hero to many, but he sees the revolutionary as a butcher who killed millions of his countrymen. Argentine-born Guevara helped current Cuban leader Fidel Castro overthrow General Fulgencio Batista's government in a guerrilla revolution in the late 1950s. Garcia, who left Cuba when he was five, says, "I'd be curious to go around and ask them how much they really...

HAVANA — Nearly 50 years of rule by Fidel Castro ended in Cuba on Sunday as parliament chose his brother Raul to replace him — a transition that leaves the island's communist system unshaken. The new president proposed consulting with the ailing 81-year-old Fidel on all major decisions of state, and parliament approved the proposal. The vote came five days after Fidel said he was retiring, capping a career in which he frustrated efforts by 10 U.S. presidents to oust him. The transition was not likely to bring a major shift in policies of the communist government that have put...

Anti-American snarkiness has reared its ugly little head in this London Times travel story by Tom Chesshyre, "Tourism 'golden era' ends in Cuba." Apparently, The Times believes that life under Fidel Castro's oppressive regime was a "golden era" for visiting that island. Yes, how quaint to see dilapidated buildings and people whose diets are severely restricted by government rationing. The Times seems to fear that these "good times" may soon be coming to an end and urges visits there before the atmosphere is ruined by the American tourist "invasion": Travellers interested in visiting Cuba are being advised to go now before an...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro said Friday that he's relieved to be stepping down as Cuba's president, complaining that the process of selecting Cuba's next government "had left me exhausted." After nearly a half-century in power, Castro announced Tuesday that he wouldn't accept another term when parliament selects a new government on Sunday. "The night before, I slept better than ever," Castro wrote in a newspaper column. "My conscience was clear and I promised myself a vacation." The ailing 81-year-old said Tuesday that he's not well enough to continue as president. Most expect his brother Raul, five years younger, to step...

The announcement this week of Fidel Castro's retirement was a mere formality. You'll recall the identical announcement July of 2006. In fact, many Cuba watchers will tell you that his little brother, Raul, as head of Cuba's Armed Forces, has been mostly running Cuba--the nuts and bolts of the thing--for decades, and more singlehandedly for the past five years.

Michael Graham, blogging at The Natural Truth, brings us this disgusting but not surprising story about how CNN coached its anchors to treat the subject of fidel castro in an early morning email today. I can now confirm independently that not only did such an email go out, here it is in its entirety: From: Flexner, Allison Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 7:46 AM To: *CNN Superdesk (TBS) Cc: Neill, Morgan; Darlington, Shasta Subject: Castro guidance Some points on Castro – for adding to our anchor reads/reporting: * Please say in our reporting that Castro stepped down in a letter...

The official statement from Cuba is that Fidel Castro was overworked and required surgery as a result. How fitting for the leader of the Island Workers' Paradise to work himself sick. How noble an illness. Though Castro's actual ailment was declared a state secret, the publicly available information points conclusively to a very different cause for his illness than the official one. If he had an operation, then he should have recovered by now. In the photo below, released on September 1, about five weeks after his illness began, note how pallid Castro is. Many weeks after surgery, he still...

link only to CNN

Fidel Castro Steps Down...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro revealed Thursday that he thought he was dying when he fell ill in July 2006, and hastily made plans to give up power as doctors fought to save his life. "When I fell gravely ill the night of the 26th and dawn of the 27th of July, I thought that would be the end," the ailing 81-year-old wrote in an essay published on the front page of state newspapers. "And while the doctors fought for my life, the head aide of the Council of State read at my urging the text and I dictated the necessary...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro looked frail but alert and even playful in a series of official photographs taken during a meeting with Brazil's president on Tuesday, the first images of the ailing Cuban leader released in about three months. Wearing a tracksuit and tennis shoes that have become his trademark since he fell ill, Castro is seen seated and grinning, his beard well-trimmed and his hair combed as he talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. In some images, Castro is seen pretending to snap pictures with a camera. The pictures were given to reporters as Brazil's leader left...

THE MAXIMUM LEADER WAS SITTING IN A LA-Z-BOY RECLINER IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE IN CUBANACAN, ABOUT 20 MINUTES WEST OF HAVANA, CUBA. HE WAS WATCHING KATY COURIC'S NEWSCAST. CASTRO'S CONVOY DIDN'T NEED TO STOP FOR TRAFFIC LIGHTS. IT WOULD TAKE ANYONE ELSE 45 MINUTES. HE HAD SHED HIS FATIGUES AND NOW WORE HIS CUBAN OLYMPIC TRACK SUIT. HIS GASTRIC SYSTEM HAD BEEN UNDER ATTACK FOR THE LAST YEAR AND MOST DAYS HE WAS IN CONSIDERABLE DISCOMFORT. HE TOLD HIS BROTHER, RAOUL, THAT HE WISHED NOW THAT HE HADN'T MADE SUCH A BIG DEAL OUT OF GIVING UP HIS BELOVED CIGARS...

The networks are preparing for death of Fidel Castro. Writers, producers and most telling, union engineers and tape editors on expensive overtime stayed late at one network in NY tonight, updating Castro's obit tape. In addition, both network owned and leased satellite uplink trucks headed for Miami fast tonight after covering the Lisa Nowak arraignment in Orlando. My Tampa-based Bay of Pigs survivors (after miscalling Fidel's death last week) are withholding data until confirmed. Right now, it's all rumors,.... but.... -30-

Rumors about the death of Cuban President, Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, are nothing new and have circulated many times before, but many Cuban exiles in Miami believe this one is for real. With no word from Fidel Castro on his birthday (August 13), speculation about his “departure” have increased. If Castro is not already dead, it is probably safe to say that, from a political point of view, he longer exists. Fidel transferred his presidential powers to his brother (and successor) Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz earlier this year (although this happened provisionally in July 2006), while receiving surgery to repair...

Upcoming cover, just leaked from one of my sources in the main stream media -- I can't tell you who as she would probably lose her job.

My cellphone has not stopped ringing for the past ten minutes. Various sources inform that an announcement will come within the next few minutes from the Cuban government on Cuban TV and media. Stay tuned and we'll see if we've been manipulated once again or if today is the birth date of Cuba's liberty. Update: Here's the deal and what I know up to now, as of 1500 hours, August 24, 2007: First, South Florida Law Enforcement is on alert. An EOC (Emergency Operations Center) has been set-up and manned somewhere in Homestead. Im also told Local and State government...

Sources reveal exclusively to PerezHilton.com that U.S. officials will be holding a press conference shortly to announce the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. PerezHilton.com was the first media outlet in the world to break the news of Castro’s death. We posted THIS ITEM on it last week!!!! A Cuban broke the story of the oppressive ogre’s passing. We are soooo proud and happy!!! We’re so sad we can’t be in Miami this weekend. There’s gonna be a big ol’ party en Calle Oche, mi gente!!!! And, in the words of Gloria Estefan… “Quiero my Cuba libre!”

There's an strangely ominous post on celebrity news site PerezHilton.com tonight wondering aloud if Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has died. Mr. Hilton has piqued our interest — as intrepid night reporter noted, "He's never wrong!" (Well, at least when it comes to celebrities, anyhow.) Here's what he wrote: Is Castro Dead??? We are hearing very loud rumblings that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has died, though it could be just a flare-up of the health rumors that have dogged the tyrant recently. No official confirmation yet, but we will be following this story closely. Post reporter Katie Rook spoke with Mr....

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro said Saturday that consumerism in the United States, the perennial enemy of his communist government, is threatening humanity's very existence. Castro used the latest of his «Reflections of the Commander in Chief» columns to lambast American capitalism, quoting a former Russian defense official who says the world must stand up to the United States and its money-grubbing ways. «Commercial advertising and consumerism are incompatible with the survival of the species,» Castro wrote in the essay titled «Hard and Obvious Realities» and published in Cuba's two leading state-controlled newspapers. Castro turns 81 on Aug. 13 and...

HAVANA - Fidel Castro said Wednesday that Cuba is "marching ahead" without him in power, insisting that he is consulted on all important decisions but giving no hint about when — or if — he might retake office after stepping down one year ago. But he was decidedly less optimistic about the island's chances of improving relations with the United States, writing in his latest newspaper essay that "no one should entertain the slightest illusion" Washington will negotiate with Cuba. Castro, who turns 81 this month, has not been seen in public since July 31, 2006, when he stunned Cuba...

HAVANA - Cuba passed the one-year anniversary of Fidel Castro's withdrawal from power without official mention of the fact on Tuesday — but Castro published an essay proclaiming Cuba's victories at the Pan American games were a triumph for the revolution. "On 59 occasions we heard the spirited notes of the Cuban National Anthem playing — in spite of everything!" Castro wrote in the latest of a series of columns, referring to the 59 gold medals the country won during the hemispheric competition in Rio de Janeiro — second only to the United States. Castro, who turns 81 on Aug....

CAMAGUEY, Cuba - Raul Castro said Thursday that Cuba has avoided the collapse the U.S. predicted when his brother Fidel fell ill a year ago, and signaled he was willing to talk with a new American administration after President Bush leaves power. The acting president said the island suffered "a hard blow" when Fidel relinquished power last year, but he focused more on the future while addressing tens of thousands of loyalists celebrating Cuba's Revolution Day. "These have truly been difficult moments, although with a diametrically different impact than that expected by our enemies, who wished for chaos to take...

HAVANA (Reuters) - Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has bowed out of Thursday's Revolution Day festivities, with his stand-in and brother, Raul Castro, to speak in his place, the government said on Wednesday. "Raul will speak tomorrow" blared a red banner headline of the Communist party newspaper Granma. The news was hardly a surprise to most Cubans and foreign observers as Fidel Castro has repeatedly failed to appear in public since undergoing the first of a series of intestinal operations a year ago. "We'll be waiting for him. If Fidel can't make it, who better than Raul to be here,"...

HAVANA - Convalescing Fidel Castro said in an essay Tuesday that he has been so engrossed with Cuba's performance at the Pan American Games in Brazil that he forgets to eat and take his medicine. "I hardly take my eyes off the television set," Castro wrote in the latest of a series of essays he has penned in recent months. "Sometimes I forget the hour of some meal, or a pill." Castro mentioned watching Cuba's baseball team and the women's volleyball team in its game against the United States "in which our players did everything perfect." He also praised the...

Castro Looks Healthier in TV Interview www.newsmax.com associated press June 5, 2007 Speaking slowly and focusing on past memories rather than his recovery and future, a healthier looking Fidel Castro appeared on Cuban television Tuesday, giving the world its first long look at him since he fell ill and gave up power last summer. The 80-year-old Castro's beard and hair were well-trimmed and he looked rested and alert — no longer the picture of a man on the verge of death. But he did not speak of international issues and made no mention of any plans to return to running...

Excerpt - April 15, 2007 -- Filmmaker Michael Moore's production company took ailing Ground Zero responders to Cuba in a stunt aimed at showing that the U.S. health-care system is inferior to Fidel Castro's socialized medicine, according to several sources with knowledge of the trip. The trip was to be filmed as part of the controversial director's latest documentary, "Sicko," an attack on American drug companies and HMOs that Moore hopes to debut at the Cannes Film Festival next month. Two years in the making, the flick also takes aim at the medical care being provided to people who worked...

Venezuela: Ally Castro Recovering April 13, 2007 By NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON Associated Press Writer CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday said his close friend and ally Fidel Castro has "almost totally recovered" from his illness, and Cuba's foreign minister said the ailing leader is getting stronger every day. Speaking at a televised news conference, Chavez said the 80-year-old Cuban leader's marked improvement is clear. "Almost totally recovered is the very reliable information that I keep receiving," Chavez said. "The reports that I have and that keep arriving speak of—and not only the reports but his own...

The US coast guard is staging a huge exercise in Florida in preparation for a possible mass exodus from Cuba in the event of the death of Fidel Castro.More than 300 agents and 85 law enforcement agencies are taking part in the two-day Operation Vigilant Sentry. Actors are playing imaginary Cuban migrants in mock interceptions. The operation has taken on a renewed urgency since President Castro fell ill and handed temporary power to his brother Raul last July. President Castro recently spoke in a live broadcast with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez, but has not been seen in public...

The Man Who Invented Fidel: Cuba, Castro, and Herbert L. Matthews of The New York Times, by Anthony DePalma, New York: Public-Affairs, 308 pages, $26.95 Aha! Finally we've discovered the missing ingredient in American journalism, the vitamin deficiency that's been shrinking newspaper circulation and TV newscast audiences all these years. What Americans clamor for is not information but passion. The heroes of the coverage of Katrina were not the reporters who got the most accurate stories but the ones who shouted the loudest or cried the hardest. CNN's Anderson Cooper acquired the most accolades. "For the last four days I've...

Speech of President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia to the Gambian Congress, January 18, 2007 “I call you to this meeting and maybe you will wonder why I called you including the two Ambassadors from Cuba and Taiwan. I called the two Ambassadors and of course Rose Clair Charles because you have a direct link with the health delivery system of this country. You know that Cuba is a key partner in our health sector and Taiwan is the force behind the Medical Team in The Gambia. This is a follow up to what I said on GRTS that I will...

Thank You and Farewell The Council of State Havana, Cuba December 2006 The Honorable George W. Bush The White House Washington, D.C. Dear Mr. President: My final battle is nearing its end. I have led the revolutionary struggle for so long that I have seen nine American Presidents leave office. But now it is certain that you will be the one who sees me give up my post in favor of my brother Raul, whom history commands to lead our noble Revolution and pass the torch to our next generation. Before I relinquish my post, I must thank you for...

The Palestinian kaffiyeh, symbol of the intifada and decades of violence and terrorism, is being marketed by Urban Outfitters as an “Anti-War Woven Scarf.” (Hat tip: LGF readers.) UPDATE at 1/15/07 2:49:56 pm: The terrorists’ favorite peace symbol is even featured prominently around a daydreaming moonbat’s neck on the cover of their Spring Accessories catalog: Men’s Accessories - UrbanOutfitters.com. (Hat tip: CG.)

A chain of insolvent medical performances aggravated the state of Castro A Cuban diplomat says that he undergoes “healing problems” One burdens infection in the heavy intestine, at least three insolvent operations and several complications maintain the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, postrado with very serious prognosis, according to medical sources of the hospital Gregorio Marañón of Madrid. In this center Jose works Luis Garci'a Sabrido, head of the service of Surgery, that traveled to visit Fidel Castro in last December. Garci'a Sabrido discarded that Castro undergoes cancer. A Cuban diplomat admitted yesterday that Castro undergoes “healing problems”. According to...

MADRID, Spain - A leading Spanish surgeon has flown to Cuba to treat Fidel Castro, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday. Castro, 80, has not appeared in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July. Since then here has been little information from Cuba regarding his condition. Castro has placed his younger brother, Raul, in charge of government. Barcelona-based El Periodico said Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, chief surgeon at Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital, was taken to Havana, the Cuban capital, Thursday on a Cuban government chartered flight. The newspaper said he took with him medical material not available in Cuba....

If President Castro fails to attend his 80th birthday celebrations today, it may mean the end for the world's longest-serving leader After dark in one of the Cuban capital’s few privately owned restaurants, or paladares, the conversation turns cautiously to politics. With President Castro so unwell that he may miss today’s huge military parade to mark his 80th birthday, Cubans are on the brink of a new era when key decisions will no longer be taken by one man alone. “It’s been more than 40 years the same. No nobody knows what will happen. There is great uncertainty. People want...

New York Honors Fidel Castro With Statue Humberto Fontova Monday, Oct. 30, 2006 He craved the nuclear incineration of the entire metropolis. "If the missiles had remained we would have used them against the very heart of the U.S., including New York City," admitted his sidekick Ernesto "Che" Guevara, thinking he was speaking "off the record" to London's Daily Worker in November 1962. But Fidel Castro first tried baiting his Soviet patrons into the act. A full-scale Yankee invasion of Cuba was hours away, Castro disclosed to Khrushchev on October 26th 1962. His agents had ready proof. Don't delay, he...

Some highlights from the Nonaligned Movement summit's final declaration. TERRORISM: Denounces the brutalization of peoples under foreign occupation as the gravest form of terrorism. Asks that terrorism not be associated with any religion, nationality or ethnic group and that it be recognized that the struggle of peoples under colonial or alien domination does not constitute terrorism. MIDEAST CONFLICTS: Strongly condemns "the relentless Israeli aggression launched against Lebanon." Promotes a revival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Supports the Palestinian people's "inalienable right to self-determination in their independent and sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital." NUCLEAR IRAN: Defends...

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro was reported to be walking, talking and undergoing briefings on Saturday, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was headed to Havana to share a birthday cake with the ailing Cuban leader. Castro, who turns 80 on Sunday, has not been seen publicly since he temporarily ceded power to his younger brother on July 31 because of complicated abdominal surgery. Details of his condition are considered a state secret. But the Communist Party daily, Granma, published a cryptic report on Saturday from an unidentified visitor who described Castro as "up and about, like someone anticipating...

World Celebs: Respect Cuban Sovereignty Havana, Aug 7 (Prensa Latina) Over 400 world notables, including eight Nobel prizewinners, urged the US Monday to respect Cuba's sovereignty, and condemned the threats against its territorial integrity. The document, "The Sovereignty of Cuba Must be Respected" conveys support to President Fidel Castro, who on July 31 provisionally delegated responsibilities due to his health condition. Since the announcement, US government officials “have been increasingly explicit about Cuba's immediate future," the foreign signatories declared. The signatories rejected Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez´ pronouncement that this is the moment for a true transition toward democracy, as...

Star reporter in Havana gets a taste of official Cuba at its most oppressive HAVANA—"Mr. Timothy, you must come with me. There is a problem in your room." I had just tucked into a pork sandwich at the hotel bar when the ominous voice from behind stopped me in mid-bite. I was about to get a hard lesson in the sensitivity to foreign journalists poking around in Cuba as long-time President Fidel Castro — potentially — lingers near death.